Our dementia approach

The brighterkind dementia approach has been in development over the previous 2 years and has drawn upon the experiences and expertise outside of our organisation and from services within the business. The essence of the approach has been generated from a service, which is fully able to offer a high end care experience for all residents; from team members who have the skills and knowledge to care for residents with a reduction in cognition, and within a beautifully and carefully designed environment which can flexibly meet their needs. This is closely aligned to the work running concurrently with brighterkind’s vision, values and standards ensuring that residents are enabled to make every moment matter.

The first phase in developing this approach generated from the focus group work which consisted of a variety of disciplines, namely care quality, home management, safeguarding, food and dining, recreation and activity, interior design and marketing. This generated the concept of the experience as a whole and was then separated into describing the functions of the key stakeholders – resident/ relative/ team and environment.

In recognising that the provision of dementia care is multifaceted, each of the elements as described in the focus group was mapped against the four key stakeholders and this has ultimately generated a standardised compliance tool which maps a baseline position within each Home and will then provide an agreed action to address gaps and short falls.

In order to align with current academic thinking the Kings Fund – environmental audit was the audit tool of choice for assessing our environments as it provided a user friendly and evidence based view as to how ‘dementia compliant’ our Homes were against the expected – or suggested environmental standards. We drew experience from our own interior design team for sense check purposes as this tool primarily relates to new builds – but can be adapted appropriately to existing buildings.

brighterkind consistently reviews its approach to improving services for our residents in order to ensure their stay within the Home is a happy and fulfilling experience. As part of our approach to supporting residents living with dementia, brighterkind is working closely with Active Minds to introduce activity/ sensory boxes into each Home. Each Home within brighterkind has been provided with their own Active Minds box which has been repackaged in the brighterkind design and demonstrated at each of the dementia approach launch days. Using the exceptional contents of these boxes, team members will be able to encourage Residents and their families or friends to interact both as a group and on a one to one basis to provide adult appropriate stimulation through either visual, verbal or sensory means. This will enhance the opportunity for communication and engagement with residents who may be experiencing a cognitive challenge and enable appropriate activity to be planned; as part of a person centered timetable of recreational activity.

As part of the ongoing quality monitoring process within the business, brighterkind will continue to review adapt and enhance the brighterkind dementia approach and support residents and their families to engage with every opportunity to enjoy life within the Home.